Abstract
The well-formedness of half-lines of Old English alliterative verse is determined not only by the distribution of stress but also by the disposition of syllables. The relevance of the syllable disposition to determining the well-formedness of half-lines is seen in the fact that quadrisyllabic half-lines containing two unprefixed disyllabic words must not begin with a word headed by a light syllable. This fact is elegantly captured by a constraint which requires that half-lines of Old English alliterative verse contain at least three feet in Keyser and O'Neil's (1985) sense, and the introduction of the constraint into a theory of Old English poetic meter sheds new light upon some other peculiar aspects of Old English alliterative verse.
